Alabama petroleum gas line explodes, at least 7 severely injured

The blast occurred about one mile west of a section of pipe that leaked last month, spilling more than 300,000 gallons of gas.

By Stephen Feller

At least seven
people were hurt and 10 acres were lit afire Monday after a gas pipeline
exploded in central Alabama, just south of Birmingham.

A petroleum gas line owned by Colonial Pipeline exploded in Shelby County
while a crew was performing maintenance, sending at least seven, but
possibly as many as 12, workers to area hospitals. Two workers may also
be missing, officials said.

Colonial Pipeline shut down its main lines
in Shelby County -- the company operates two, one of which leaked about
300,000 gallons of gas last month -- and is working with emergency
officials to control the fire.

"The fire will not be out any time soon,"
Shelby County Sheriff's Maj. Ken Burchfield said, though officials noted
that the fire did not appear to pose a danger to homes or residents,
aside from two homes about a half-mile from the explosion site that were
evacuated.

Subcontractors for Colonial were preparing to flush one of the gas lines and had just started to dig when the pipe exploded.

Seven people were severely burned in the
explosion and were being treated at the University of
Alabama-Birmingham's hospital, while Shelby Baptist Medical Center
reported they were treating six or seven people with "non-critical"
injuries.

The company said on Oct. 27
that it planned to perform "system integrity work" this month and next
in preparation to remove the temporary bypass, though it is unclear
whether the work being conducted before the explosion was related to the
bypass removal.